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Masses tune in to superhero abilities of HDTV

By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY

Jeff Leon was never one to watch nature documentaries. Until, that is, the Chicago attorney bought a 50-inch Fujitsu plasma HDTV. "In high definition, it's just mesmerizing," Leon says.

TV junkies are answering the call of nature with greater frequency and are gaining appreciation for ballgames, concerts, movies and other programming that comes alive in high definition.

HDTV is shorthand for a picture that is far sharper and more vibrant than the conventional analog reception consumers have been watching for decades.

HDTVs have up to 2 million pixels, or picture elements, compared with 200,000 for analog. With a wide-screen "aspect ratio" of 16-by-9, the proportions of most HDTVs are similar to those of a movie screen. By contrast, most analog sets are 4-by-3, or closer to a square.

The rich detail puts viewers in the middle of the action. "If there's a hockey fight, you know how many stitches a guy needs before the doctor gets on the ice," says Mark Cuban, who, as owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and co-founder of a high-definition television network called HDNet, is an authority on spectator sports and broadcasting.

Adds Leon: "Nobody is ever going to say, 'Gee, you look different on TV' anymore. All the age lines of the TV anchors, skin blotches, too much makeup — you can see actors as the real people they actually are."

HDTV broadcasts also sound great. Combined with the proper audio components (an added cost), couch potatoes can exploit what is known as six-channel 5:1 Dolby Digital surround sound. So home theaters reverberate like the neighborhood multiplex.

Yet for a gaggle of reasons — lofty prices, customer confusion, a paucity of HD programming and broadcaster resistance — mainstream consumers had been reluctant to embrace the digital transition.

HDTV's reception among the masses is brightening. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, manufacturer-to-dealer digital TV sales for the first quarter of 2004 totaled 1.39 million, a 104% climb over the same period in 2003. By 2007, nearly one-third of American households will be tuning in to HD programs.

"Two or three years ago, people were calling HDTV a failure," says Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the CEA. Today, Shapiro says, "I have very little worries."

Indeed, the digital migration appears inevitable. "The transition we've embarked on is not really any different from the transition from black-and-white to color TV," says Glenn Britt, CEO of Time Warner Cable.

Several positive plot points could accelerate the handover:

•Pricing. True, the sexiest televisions, notably thin, large-screen plasma models, command thousands of dollars. But wholesale prices are about half what they were when the first digital sets turned up, says Sean Wargo, the CEA's director of industry analysis. Depending on TV type, he says, prices are plummeting 10% to 30% a year.

Entry-level HD monitors can be found for as little as $450, Wargo reports, though at that price you're getting a 27-inch, non-wide-screen model, based on older tube technology. And buyers would still need a separate set-top box for receiving cable or satellite transmissions or an antenna for capturing over-the-air reception.

Other developments portend a continued price decline. At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Intel demonstrated Cayley, the code name for a technique called "liquid crystal on silicon," which it says will lead to large-screen digital sets for less than $2,000.

Also helping drive down prices: Cable operators such as Time Warner and Cablevision say they are not charging extra to show high-definition versions of programs already broadcast in analog. Subscribers do have to fork over a premium for pay channels.

•Programming. More is coming. Major events shown in HD include the Academy Awards, the Super Bowl and the Masters Golf Tournament. NBC will broadcast the 2004 Olympics in HD.

As of late February, according to research firm Digital Tech Consulting, CBS was airing 27 hours a week of its usual programming in HD, not counting specials. NBC and ABC were broadcasting 21 hours and 13 hours of usual programming, respectively.

Though a laggard, Fox plans to show at least half its prime-time lineup in HD beginning this fall.

Others:

• PBS airs its Great Performances series and nature documentaries in high definition, and ESPN shows a variety of sporting events.

• Bravo, HBO and Showtime are among those offering original HD fare, plus movies.

Broadcasters are also devising special content for the medium. Cuban's HDNet plans to run a high-definition documentary on the Enron scandal, for example.

"We tried to take formats that were underserved on TV in general but that would be enhanced and frankly spectacular on HD," says Rainbow CEO Joshua Sapan.

•DVDs. Granted, the resolution of today's DVDs is not up to lofty HD specifications. (Competing high-definition DVD technologies are in the works.) But today's HD monitors do show DVDs in their best light, especially when discs are placed in "progressive scan" players.

•A boost from the feds. Uncle Sam has assumed a role in the digital transition. On July 1, half of new TVs 36 inches or larger with analog tuners must also have digital tuners, the government has mandated. By July 2005, half the sets 25 to 35 inches must have digital tuners.

By July 2006, half the sets as small as 13 inches must have them. A year later, VCRs and DVDs are required to have digital tuners.

It seems far less likely that another deadline will be met: that if 85% of U.S. households have access to digital reception by 2007, analog signals will disappear and existing TVs will be obsolete.

"Does anybody really believe at the end of 2006 we're going to shut off analog TV? No," says Dave Arland of Thomson, maker of the RCA brand. "But I think that day will come in 2010 or 2012."

Also, on July 1, the initial aspects of an agreement between major cable broadcasters and consumer electronics companies will kick in, leading to the arrival of digital cable TVs that don't require separate set-top boxes. Newer TVs incorporate slots for authorization cards.

But the first of these cable-ready TVs will operate in only one direction. That means a separate box will still be required for such features as an interactive programming guide and movies on demand.

Confusion still a problem

Consumer electronics companies and their cable counterparts are grappling over the standards for a two-way solution.

Indeed, there are hurdles to wide-scale HD adoption.

A high-def glossary

 Aspect ratio. The width-to-height proportions of a TV screen. Most high-definition TVs provide widescreen cinematic ratios of 16-by-9 as opposed to the squarish 4-by-3 found on regular TV.

 Digital TV (DTV). Signals that are transmitted and displayed digitally like computer data. But while HDTV is digital TV, not all digital TV is HD (see below). More than 1,150 stations are broadcasting digitally.

 Flat panel. Typically refers to thin, sexy and expensive plasma and LCD, or liquid crystal display, TVs and monitors. Many manufacturers are increasingly focusing on a category of thin and light TVs called "microdisplays." These include models based on jargony Digital Light Processing (DLP) and Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS) technologies.

 Tube sets. Similar to the TVs you grew up with. But high-definition tube TVs are the most affordable and arguably provide the best pictures. Downside: Cabinets are large and heavy, and screen sizes are limited.

Source: USA TODAY research

About 1 in 3 buyers plans to eschew HDTV as his or her next TV purchase, and 25% have ruled it out completely, the CEA says. Roughly a fourth are confused about some aspect of the purchase.

Moreover, some people who have bought HDTVs report that analog programming — and there's still plenty of it — looks worse on certain digital sets.

Clearing up the confusion starts with understanding the very concept of digital TV. Though HDTV is digital television, it is possible to buy a digital TV that is not high definition. There are 18 digital formats. Those that adhere to Standard Definition (SD) or Enhanced Definition (EDTV) standards don't quite measure up to full-fledged HD, though SD and EDTV are still superior to analog.

Consumers might also need a scorecard to sort through the TV display options, including whether to buy an HD monitor or a set with an integrated digital tuner.

At the top of the heap are the dazzling wall-hanging, flat-panel models, including plasmas and LCDs (liquid crystal displays). Then there are the thin and alluring sets based on so-called micro-display technologies.

Ultimately, both flat panels and micro-displays will replace the CRT, or tube, TVs folks grew up with, even though tubes are the most affordable and still arguably produce the most stunning pictures. A downside to tubes: smaller screen sizes and bulky cabinets.

Depending on what and when you buy, you may or may not get a set with the latest connectors. "Generally speaking, technology is going to continue to evolve to help consumers, not to give them the feeling of being stranded or obsolete," says Sony Senior Vice President Tim Baxter.

Getting with the program

Retailers have the unenviable task of enlightening the masses. "TVs are not as simple as toasters anymore," says Lee Simonson, Best Buy's business team leader for TVs. "You don't pull a knob and click to the station you want to watch anymore."

Moreover, access to HD fare depends on where people live and how they get signals in the first place, be it cable, satellite or over-the-air broadcasts. For example, HDNet is not available on Cablevision, Cox and Comcast systems.

Viewers may have to hook up an antenna on the roof or in the attic to supplement satellite or cable coverage, especially if they hope to receive local channels in HD.

Some broadcasters have simply not gotten with the program; HD requires the most bandwidth. In-Stat/MDR analyst Mike Paxton notes that cable operators can devote 6 megahertz to one HD channel. But they can carry up to 10 standard-definition channels on one 6-MHz channel.

For end users, a superior picture is only part of the deal. Consumers ultimately want to have the same viewing experience with HD that they have with analog. That means the ability to time-shift and record. But high-definition components are costly. TiVo and DirecTV unveiled a $1,000 30-hour HD recorder.

Rival Dish Network sells a dual tuner satellite receiver, the Dish Player-DVR 921, that can record up to 25 hours of high-definition content. It costs $999.

Hurdles will be solved over time, which is why industry cheerleader Shapiro, for one, remains bullish. "I'm so proud of HDTV," he says, "that my tombstone will be in 16-by-9."